Aaron Weis and Adam Weis (sometimes misspelled Weiss)[1] are American former child actors and school teachers. They are known for sharing the role of four-year-old Bradley Bradshaw in the 1986 film Top Gun. Scenes with them were reprised in the 2022 sequel Top Gun: Maverick, featuring Miles Teller in the role of grown-up Bradley Bradshaw.

Life

The Weis brothers come from San Diego, born to Dennis and Martha Weis.[2] In 1985, they were hired for the film Top Gun starring Tom Cruise after winning a movie casting, held at Point Loma for four-year-old identical twins. Taking turns on set for three days of filming, they played the young Bradley Bradshaw, son of Nick "Goose" Bradshaw (Anthony Edwards) and his wife Carole (Meg Ryan), in three appearances. The first one shows Carole and Bradley uniting with Goose at the airport.[3] Another scene in Kansas City Barbeque has Bradley sitting on the piano where his father plays "Great Balls of Fire".[4] The brothers were paid $384 each for their role (roughly $900 as of 2018).[5]

Following the shooting of the film, names and pictures of the twins and their role were published in Viltis magazine in December 1985.[6] Still, the film as published treated them as non-speaking extras; so they remained uncredited and largely unknown to the public. They were pictured in People magazine as "unknown extras".[7] After a few more casting calls, their only other appearance was in a SeaWorld commercial together with other twins, most notably Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, after which they did not follow an acting career.[7]

They graduated in 1999 as co-valedictorians from Clairemont High School, subsequently from University of California, Santa Barbara and obtained their teaching credentials.[2] Now they both work as teachers in San Francisco Bay Area. Aaron teaches sixth grade math and science at Rooftop Alternative School in San Francisco, Adam teaches fifth grade at Berkeley Arts Magnet school (since 2008).[8] As of 2018, Adam received a Classroom Grant from the Berkeley Public Schools Fund each year for the annual outdoor education trip, introduced to the school by him.[9] Both brothers have been awarded the title of Bay Area Teacher of the Month by the non-profit organization 826 Valencia, Aaron in September 2014[10] and Adam in May 2015.[11] In May 2018, Aaron was named a San Francisco's 2017-18 Teacher of the Year honoree by mayor Mark Farrell.[12]

Reprise of their role

Several years after the release of Top Gun, the names of the Weis twins became publicly known. In 2011, a CNN iReport featured an interview with their mother Martha, including many photos from the set.[13]

In 2018, news outlets reported that the Top Gun sequel in production would feature the character Bradley Bradshaw in a major role, played by Miles Teller, bringing the Weis twins to public awareness again. The twins were not asked to return into their role as Paramount auditioned professional actors only. Asked on their opinion of the casting, Adam wondered whether Teller (born 1987) may be a bit too young for the role, but neither brother wanted to make a judgement before seeing the film.[7]

In an early scene of the sequel titled Top Gun: Maverick, Tom Cruise's character Pete "Maverick" Mitchell is seen looking over a pinned-up photo collection of his life, including the Bradshaw family with little Bradley.[14] In the final cut of the film, several shots of the original film including little Bradley in the bar were reprised as flashbacks of Maverick in the scene where grown-up Bradley also plays "Great Balls of Fire" on a piano. Not included in the script, this was an idea of director Joseph Kosinski during the editing.[15]

References

  1. ↑ Florey, DM (2018-07-05). ""Top Gun" sequel casts Miles Teller as Goose's son". cinema.com.
  2. 1 2 Bell, Diane (2018-06-18). "Tom Cruise movie sequel takes off without San Diego's 'Top Gun' twins". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2023-01-05.
  3. ↑ Matt (2012-08-19). "SPOTTED: Starscream in Top Gun!". dinosaurdracula.com. Retrieved 2022-08-29.
  4. ↑ Jason (2022-06-17). "Maverick Flashbacks, from "Great Balls of Fire" to this ending (spoilers!)". kaliannews.info.
  5. ↑ Coulston, John Connor (2018-07-08). "'Top Gun': Original Goose's Son Actors React to Miles Teller Replacing Them in Sequel". comicbook.com. Retrieved 2023-01-05.
  6. ↑ VILTIS, volume 44 at Google Books
  7. 1 2 3 Raymond, Charles Nicolas. "Top Gun 2: Who Played Goose's Son In Top Gun (& Why They Were Recast)". Screenrant. Retrieved 2023-01-05.
  8. ↑ Weis, Adam (2018-12-01). "Teachers of Berkeley". facebook.com. Retrieved 2022-07-29.
  9. ↑ "HAPPY HOLIDAYS from the Berkeley Public Schools Fund" (PDF). Berkeley Public Schools Fund. 2019. Retrieved 2024-01-11.
  10. ↑ "September Teacher of the Month: Mr. Aaron Weis". 826valencia.org. 2014-09-04. Retrieved 2022-07-29.
  11. ↑ "May Teacher of the Month, Adam Weis!". 826valencia.org. 2015-05-12. Retrieved 2022-07-29.
  12. ↑ Matthews, Vincent (2018-05-21). "San Francisco's Teacher of the Year honorees". San Francisco Examiner. Retrieved 2022-08-09.
  13. ↑ "Top Gun Twins". Archived from the original on 23 July 2011. Retrieved 2 August 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  14. ↑ Kamal, Nathan (2022). "See Tom Cruise Dealing With Goose's Death In Top Gun: Maverick Video". giantfreakinrobot.com.
  15. ↑ Erbland, Kate (2022-06-09). "'Top Gun: Maverick' Director Joseph Kosinski Answers All Our Burning Questions". IndieWire. Retrieved 2022-07-29.
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